Old vine Kekfrankos (pronounced 'CAKE-frank-kosh'- Blaufrankisch in Austria; Lemberger in the Okanagan and Washington, where it was first planted over 40 years ago), grown on sublime limestone terroir in Eger. This classic region was renowned in the past for Egri Bikaver, the 'Bull's Blood of Eger'. Criminally dumbed down in the Soviet era, it is now poised to resume its proper place in the pantheon of the world's great terroirs. This is classic funky/juicy/stony red: the kind of wine we all love to drink - Lapierre Morgon/Chave St Joseph/Chinon/Bourgueil/ Saumur kind of wine - rustic, edgy, outside-the-box, always vibrant, sometimes downright wild, but somehow capable of elegance at the same time. Stony and structured; tannic yet fresh. The two word description of the style is 'juicy minerality' - the ideal that is being pursued by the best and brightest around the world, from the Santa Rita Hills to Bio Bio, and from Swartland to the Douro.

So what we have here is a Liquid Art find par excellence: under-the-radar, inexpensive, and bloody interesting - insider's wine, wine for the connoisseur. You have to know someone (namely one of us) or you're SOL.

The PP+T quotient is off the charts. This is wine with a multiplicity of connections between dots, each one providing a new and different avenue to greater understanding and appreciation of its story. For me it is a definitive example of what French friends call 'friend wine', an elegantly elastic concept that embraces both wine made by friends and wines you are a friend of. Friend wine is wine with soul, wine that is close to your heart. It will always be the greatest wine to drink, and always the best wine to be able to sell.

J+J is a friend wine par excellence.

Here's how:

People

The two J's are Torontonian MS John Szabo and Hungarian medical doctor Janos Stumpf. Szabo is a friend of Trialto (he hosted our recent Wine Jedi seminar in Toronto), and one of the top wine people in Canada. Janos Stumpf is a heart and soul winegrower in Eged who was a devoted disciple of Tibor Gal, the legendary Hungarian oenologist who worked at Sassicaia with Nicolo Incisa della Rochetta and at Ornellaia with Lodovico Antinori. While working in Tuscany Tibor became a dear friend of Alberto Antonini. Tibor and Alberto were working together in South Africa when Tibor was tragically killed in a car accident there in 2005. The spiritual connection to Tibor and Alberto provides J+J with an impeccable heart and soul pedigree.

Place

Eger is located in the far north of Hungary, 60 miles west of Tokaj. This is the region that Hugh Johnson has called the most privileged winegrowing region in Europe. There is a deeply ingrained winegrowing culture here - the wines of both regions were renowned as long ago as the 16th century. The strength of local winegrowing culture is reflected in the tradition of cultivating indigenous grapes - not just Kekfrankos but Kadarka, Furmint, and Harslevlu and others. Eger's soils are primarily volcanic; the predominant rhylotic tufa provides ideal temperature and humidity for cellaring, similar to the chalk caves of Champagne. Interestingly J+J is produced not on volcanic terroir but Cote d'Or-like limestone slopes, which explains the elegance and finesse of the wine. John and Janos's dedication to the spirit of place is expressed on the back label of their wine: "The wine is made 100% from the local Kekfrankos variety, from the first-class rated Eged vineyards and its poor limestone soils using as natural an approach as possible: old vines, low yields, hand harvesting, no chaptalization, additives or artificial methods of concentration. Our aim is to offer a natural reflection of local conditions, traditions and flavours, no more no less."

Time

The aspect of time is important in two ways. First, there is time in the historical sense: J+J is significant because it is the product of centuries of local tradition. The way this matters to us is obvious. Equally compelling however is the concept of timeliness, "occurring at a suitable or opportune time, well-timed; in time, opportunely." J+J matters to us because it represents the here and now cutting edge of wine: small and therefore beautiful, local and therefore interesting, different and therefore desirable. It is unique, off the puck, cool climate, back to the future...how cool is that?

What about the wine?